


Hunter Beach Party

by MyMisguidedFairytale



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Author's Favorite, Beach Episode, Canon Compliant, Day At The Beach, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Fun and Games, Light-Hearted, One Shot, Partying, Pre-Canon, Swimming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-26 23:42:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18727243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyMisguidedFairytale/pseuds/MyMisguidedFairytale
Summary: The Zodiac Twelve takes a trip to the beach, just in time to catch the big wave.





	Hunter Beach Party

**Author's Note:**

> _Hunter Beach Party_ was originally written and published on October 18, 2014 on [tumblr](https://cheadle-yorkshire.tumblr.com/post/100340797492/fanfiction-hunter-x-hunter-hunter-beach-party).
> 
> Everything below is preserved as it was originally posted:
> 
> **Title** : Hunter Beach Party  
>  **Pairing** : Pariston x Cheadle  
>  **Word Count** : 2407  
>  **Summary** : The Zodiac Twelve takes a trip to the beach, just in time to catch the big wave.  
> For: that one anon who requested more PariCheadle.  
>  **A/N** : Takes place 1-2 years pre-canon.

## Hunter ✖ Beach ✖ Party

Cheadle rolled the window down in the passenger seat of Mizaistom’s car. She settled one bare arm against the edge, enjoying the breeze. The radio had been turned to something jazzy and instrumental, but the sound of the wind and the road noise soon drowned it out.

This excursion was already shaping up to be the best one they’d ever organized. Their conflicting schedules didn’t often permit the members of the Zodiac Twelve to come together for dinners or group outings, but Piyon, their unofficial social director, was determined to use the bulk of their ‘appreciation’ budget before the summer’s end.

It wasn’t just the fact that they were driving to the beach that had Cheadle excited. It wasn’t that the weather was absolutely perfect for such a destination—cloudless and sunny, hot without being _too_ overbearing—or that she had finished all of her work and didn’t need to spend her time reading reports instead of swimming.

No, she was excited because there were two people who were _not_ going to be joining them that day. Ging, absent for the entire past month’s worth of meetings, was excluded from the private listserv Piyon had set up to organize the trip, as was Pariston Hill, as no one wanted to put up with him during their working hours, let alone their free time.

Cheadle sighed in contentment, settling back into the black leather of the car seat. Yes, life was good.

The trip from Swaldani City took just over an hour, and when Mizaistom pulled off the highway, following the rest of Piyon’s directions, she could see that the other cars had already arrived at the small observation area bordering a cliffside that soared above a wide strip of white sand. Piyon was unloading one of the cars, shouting instructions to Saiyuu and Ginta, who was juggling a stack of coolers.

Even from the very top of the cliff, she could only see the very edge of the beach. “How did you find this place?” she asked Piyon.

“Oh, Gracchan told me about it. I figure a Sea Hunter would know about the best beaches around, right? It’s restricted access, apparently, so no one will bother us.”

“Is there a path down?”

“Just past the railing, there.” Piyon pointed to where Saccho and Cluck were standing, past the line of cars. Cheadle followed them down the path, which curved into the rock, further hiding her view of the coastline until she stumbled out through a group of shrubs and her feet touched sand.

The first things she saw were the umbrellas. There were a half-dozen of them in different colors, like pinwheels, sticking out of the sand. Beneath them rested a few rows of unfolded lounge chairs.

Piyon stumbled through the clearing behind her, and she echoed all their sentiments when she saw the figure walking towards them from the beach.

“Oh, no.”

“Friends! You’re finally here! How glad I am to see all of you. Ah, are the others behind you? Ging sends his apologies for being unable to make it—”

“We could leave while we still can,” Piyon whispered.

“I could say I left the stove on—”

“Wait, is that a volleyball net?” Cluck looked between it and the expectant faces of the others before sighing. “He gets a pass from me. Just this once.”

“We’ll try and make the best of things,” Saccho added.

“Just let me know when Ginta gets here with the supplies,” Piyon said, stalking off towards one of the chairs. “I need a drink.”

Slowly, the group separated, and as more of the Zodiac Twelve came down and began to lay out on the chairs and put on sunscreen, they mostly just did what they always did—ignored Pariston. It was easy enough for Cheadle at first—she claimed a chair, took off her cover-up, and started putting sunscreen on her shoulders. Beside her, Geru had taken down the umbrella covering her own chair, and had eschewed Cheadle’s sunscreen in favor of tanning oil.

Cluck came up to them after a moment, volleyball under one arm. “Kanzai bet me I couldn’t take him and Botobai at beach volleyball. Any volunteers to help me introduce him to disappointment?”

Cheadle politely declined; Geru had her headphones in at that point and barely even registered the conversation.

“Spoilsports. Ginta! Get up!” And she threw the volleyball across the group of chairs at his head.

Securing her hair in a low ponytail, Cheadle headed for the water. That was when Pariston intercepted her.

“Ah, Cheadle! Do you see that rock formation, down there?” He pointed down the coastline, where she could see a towering mass of gray rock about a mile out, the same kind that formed the cliffs where they’d parked their cars. “The locals call it the Steeple. It’s quite unusual—the shape of the rocks was formed by waves over hundreds of years, but the hardness of the stone is beyond that of anything else in the area. Nice swimsuit, by the way.”

“Nice lecture. Rat.” Cheadle smoothed the skirt of her green plaid swim dress with both hands. She resisted the urge to make a comment about his own swim attire—a full-body black wetsuit with aqua-colored leopard-print trim around the legs and arms. His hair wasn’t wet, so he hadn’t gotten in the water yet, and as Cheadle stuck her feet in the water she was struck by how cold it was.

“It must get pretty deep,” she said, more to herself than to Pariston, “for the water to be so cold.”

“Yes, it must,” he agreed. “There are plenty of sea creatures who live off the coast here—large ones, if memory serves. Still, it’s quite beautiful, isn’t it? And very peaceful.”

Cheadle made a noncommittal noise and walked a few more steps in, retreating again when a wave came in and washed over her ankles. In the water, Piyon was leaning over the edge of her inner tube, doing her best to splash Mizaistom, who had wiped away his distinguishing face makeup and instead sported a thick triangle of sunscreen on his nose.

Off in the distance, Cheadle heard Cluck shout, “ _Eat sand, Kanzai!_ ” before the ground shook with the impact of the volleyball. It rolled across the sand and came to a stop near Cheadle’s feet.

Pariston reached for the ball the same time that Cheadle moved. “Should I?” he asked.

“You take care of it,” she said. “I’m going for a walk.”

Setting out in the direction of the stone monument, Cheadle kept her feet in the water as she walked. By now, the cold temperature didn’t bother her as much. She supposed she was just getting used to it.

* * *

“Can’t you tell the birds to stop?”

“I’m not doing anything! They won’t listen to me! Shoo!” Cluck kicked a bit of sand in the direction of the nearest seagull.

“They’re laughing at you.”

“Shut up!” She flung the volleyball at Kanzai’s head.

He caught it, but his focus shifted to the group of three emerging from the same rocky path the Zodiac Twelve had taken to get to the beach. “Who are they?”

Cluck looked over her shoulder. “I dunno.”

“Gracchan!” Piyon shouted, waving at him from where she stood at the water’s edge. He approached her, tucking his surfboard more tightly under one arm. The other held a harpoon.

“You sure picked a good day to come out here,” Gracchan said. “But you don’t look prepared at all for the combers.”

“The what?” Her gaze shifted to his two companions, who were similarly suited up in full-body wetsuits, with goggles draped around their necks and longboards in their hands.

“A big wave hits this place a few times a year, due to the currents. When the tide rolls out, you’ll know you only have a few minutes until it comes back, almost as high as these cliffs. It’s the best wave you’ll ever catch!” He grinned at her, but the bulk of his attention was focused on the water. It still looked calm enough to Piyon, but the more she looked, the more differences she began to spot. The color of the water seemed to have grown darker, and although the sky was still cloudless, the temperature of the air had dropped by a few degrees.

“The wave stirs up all kinds of creatures from the deep,” he continued. “I’m gonna catch the biggest thing that comes up.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Why’d you think this area was restricted? The wave’s coming. If you don’t wanna tangle with it, I’d get back up to those cliffs, as fast as you can. Might be too late for your things,” Gracchan said, gesturing to the assortment of lounge chairs and umbrellas that dotted that section of the beach.

“Thanks for the warning.” While the Sea Hunters conversed about the water conditions, Piyon gathered up the rest of the Zodiac Twelve.

“We’re heading out! You heard the man, none of us know how to surf and I don’t feel like dying today. Get your stuff and head back up to the cars. We’ll watch the wave come in before we leave.” She shouted as loudly as she could, looking at each person there in turn to make sure they all heard and understood her. “You’ve got five minutes!”

“Ah, Piyon?”

Her voice was still set at maximum volume. “What?”

Pariston cringed, rubbing at his ears and clearing his throat before he spoke again. “Have you seen Cheadle?”

* * *

She held a few interesting-looking rocks and shells in her hands. Where the Steeple jutted into the sky, the cliffside was curved like a bowl, and many cool things had washed up. Pieces of colored glass, intact shells, and rocks with the imprints of fossils mixed with the sand high up on the beach.

It was odd that there were no seagulls in this area, though. She had noticed their disappearance as she walked; there was little noise at all, apart from the waves coming in. Turning to look at the water, Cheadle frowned. The waves weren’t really doing much of anything right now, either.

She took one of the rocks in her hand and studied it. It was smooth and flat, and with a flick of her wrist she sent it skipping across the surface of the water.

The water rushed back, slipping over the sand at her feet. It didn’t return. Rather, it seemed to draw even further away, as if pulled by a magnet.

“Cheadle!” Her head snapped up; Pariston was running towards her, his feet kicking up water from a tide pool. “Cheadle!”

When he reached her, he grabbed her arm, pulling her towards the rocks.

“What’s going on?” She dropped the rest of the shells in her hands. “Rat. Is something wrong?”

“It’s about to be,” he said. “I came to get you—there’s a giant wave coming in. It’ll bury anything that’s in its path, and I don’t want either of us to be here when it does.”

Cheadle looked out at the water, rapidly receding, and then back down the coastline. “It’s a mile to our campsite. I don’t think we’ll make it in time.”

“We climb, then.”

“What?” She followed Pariston to the edge of the rock, where he grasped a hold and pulled himself up.

“Follow me. It’s not that hard.” Climbing, the two made their way up the cliff face. The rock—harder than any other in the area, she remembered him saying—was easy to climb when she strengthened her hands with _Nen_ , trusting that the rock wouldn’t give out underneath her. She used Pariston’s handholds to climb, letting her feet swing out when the cliffs curved up.

“Can you see the wave?” she called out; he was near the top.

“No.” He reached for her, and she gave him her arm to help pull her over the top of the cliff.

“You’re a liar.”

When she turned, standing on the edge of the cliff, she could see it. The wave spanned the whole length of the beach, almost as far as she could see in either direction, and was dark and ugly, like a smear against the otherwise clear blue of the sky. As it came closer, she wondered why she hadn’t noticed the roar of water before.

She took a few steps back, and Pariston followed suit. “What do you make of that?” she found herself asking.

“Nature really is quite destructive.” She glanced up at him; he was frowning, staring off at some point far in the distance, beyond the wave. “But I can’t be too upset. It’s really something, isn’t it?”

His fingers alighted on her back, pressing gently, and she couldn’t tell if he meant to confirm her presence by his side or push her closer to the edge.

“Yes,” she agreed, reluctantly. When the wave struck, Cheadle stumbled back a few steps; the force of it was surprisingly massive, and the spray came up high enough to surround them with mist.

The water seemed to sit in the bowl of the cliff, much higher and darker than she would’ve thought it was possible for the ocean to be. With the sun overhead, the water seemed to sparkle like a jewel.

“And just like that, it’s almost back to normal,” she said. Beneath them, the water still surged against the cliff face, but there were no more waves like the first one. “But not quite. We know what the ocean’s capable of—perhaps _this_ wave is more like its normal state?” She held her tongue, resisting the urge to add a reproachful ‘ _Rat_ ’ to the end.

“Still, it’s quite beautiful, isn’t it?” The water, strangely still and flat before them, combined with the clear blue of the cloudless sky, and the two of them, standing alone on the edge of a cliff beside a pillar of stone.

“And peaceful,” Cheadle added, remembering his earlier words.

He raised his arm, as if to drape it around her shoulders. Then, there was movement from beneath the water. Dark purple tentacles broke the water as a giant squid thrashed around for a moment before slipping back underneath the surface. The movement was followed by a human shape holding a harpoon, leaping up and out of the water before following the giant squid back beneath the depths.

Pariston dropped his arm. “You were saying?”

“Forget it,” Cheadle said. “Let’s just find the others.”

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. And then when they get back, Cheadle discovers that they’ve already made seating arrangements for the drive back. They’ve got to fit all the umbrellas and stuff somewhere, and it all ended up in Mizai’s car…but luckily for her, Pariston oh-so-thoughtfully offers to give Cheadle a ride back. 
> 
> 2\. Gracchan is Morau’s Sea Hunter friend. I love Gracchan so much, y'all don’t even know. Anytime I can sneak him into a story, he’ll be there.
> 
> 3\. I have no idea if Swaldani City is anywhere near the coast. Let’s just pretend it is.
> 
> 4\. I got such a kick out of imagining the Zodiac Twelve in swimsuits. Piyon happens to have a semi-canon swimsuit design, drawn by the animator niuya. You can find it [here](https://twitter.com/niuya/status/506751695020244992).


End file.
